Mainefocus — Bangor Daily News

Sheldon Snell walks through the Walsh Field Recreation Area in Belfast, where he's the groundskeeper, on June 7.

Maine Focus

The 18 lost years of a Maine man imprisoned with addiction

How Maine jails fall short in easing a crisis they help perpetuate.

Organizations representing child care providers, parents and others have filed a petition to force a legislative review of new child care rules proposed by the LePage administration that relax licensing requirements for in-home child care providers.

Maine Focus

Concerned groups force Maine Legislature to scrutinize DHHS child care rules

Maine DHHS says it’s trying to streamline the state’s family child care licensing requirements, and it plans to implement the changes without approval from the Maine Legislature, which would typically be required.

Barry Cook works to sort lumber at a St. Albans sawmill called Sebasticook Lumber on June 15, 2017.

Maine Focus

A Maine nonprofit paid disabled workers less than minimum wage but its executives got six figures

It also violated the subminimum wage law more than any other employer in the state.

Steam rises as Asa Marsh-Sachs, the brewmaster of Orono Brewing Company, dumps ingredients into the boil kettle while brewing a batch of beer.

What does innovation in Maine look like? Share your ideas.

If innovation is the key to developing Bangor’s economy, how can it be encouraged, and by whom?

The State House in Augusta. LD 967 would increase the wages of direct care workers who help people with disabilities. The bill has been passed by the Legislature, but its funding is pending.

After a decade of funding cuts, dozens of homes for Maine people with disabilities are shutting down

Over the past year, 24 homes for people with intellectual disabilities have closed, and 12 more are expected to shutter in the next six months, leaving the futures of more than 100 people uncertain.

The LePage administration says it’s overhauling the way the state treats in-home child care businesses because it wants to reverse a long-term decline in their numbers.

Maine Focus

DHHS is paying more for child care — after saying it wasn’t allowed to

In addition, it wants to eliminate a number of rights parents are currently guaranteed, such as the right to visit their children at any time during the day and the right to be informed of any licensing deficiencies.

Gov. Paul LePage addresses the chamber during the 2017 State of the State address at the State House in Augusta on Feb. 7, 2017.

Maine Focus

What LePage really plans to do with $100M meant for Maine families in poverty

The administration has orchestrated this major budget shift on its own, largely beyond public view and mostly without adding to the support available to help low-income Mainers escape poverty.

Members of the Maine Senate listen to Gov. Paul LePage speak during the first session of the 128th Legislature on Dec. 7, 2016, at the State House in Augusta.

Maine Focus

LePage signs bill to probe Maine infant deaths

It follows reporting last summer by the BDN’s Maine Focus team that found Maine was the only state to see a long-term increase in its infant mortality rate over the past two decades.